Thoughts about reviews?

[Phantomheart]

I’ve come to notice that the review function here on ScribbleHub is not frequently used, and when it is, falls into two spectrums of thought: 5 star compliments, and 3-4 star constructive criticisms.

5 star compliments usually being your short 50-100 word reviews saying how they like the story and have a compliment to one or more of the aspects of the story.

3-4 star criticisms on the other hand, will include notes about plot holes, confusing narratives, and bipolar writing habits that might be displayed in the writing. These are often lengthier, include spoilers and go in depth about the details that they find lacking.

I try my best as an author to leave a review on every story I read and or enjoy, because I know I would like the same. But at this point and time, I’ve come to realize that some people don’t appreciate reviews that bring up negative aspects of their stories or include criticisms regarding the story, when that is what the function of a review is. I’ve also talked to many of my friends on SH and some fellow authors on the discord that are too anxious to post reviews on stories, as they seem slightly too personal and daunting of a task.

There are people who do send messages to those who reviewed their novels and send thanks as they were waiting for some feedback, but I’ve come to notice that these authors can be few and in between.

It’s also been an acknowledged pattern here on SH that most people will randomly rate and review stories at will. So I was curious about the thoughts of other authors and readers about this system that people don’t like using and don’t like receiving, since so far, opinions are mixed.

How do you feel about reviews that are 5 stars? What about those that are under?

Do you appreciate longer reviews or shorter reviews? Does it matter?

Do you like reviews at all? Or do you find them unneeded or obtuse?

Please tell me your thoughts, as I’m genuinely curious about the weird standards that can be present in the community.

 

[S-Scherr]

When a reader takes the time to write a well-balanced review, it shows. Those are the reviews I appreciate, encouraging or critical, because they tell me that a reader was invested enough in my story to actually give it some thought. On the other hand, I loathe reviews by readers who read an episode or two, didn't like it (which is fine), and then suddenly become experts on my entire story (that they hardly glanced at) by bashing the first couple of chapters. I mean, seriously, if someone starts a story and it isn't for them, then just move on. No one should attempt a review if they haven't read at least the first arc, or enough to know what the hell they're talking about. That's just a waste of both the reader and the writer's time.

 

[Phantomheart]

When a reader takes the time to write a well-balanced review, it shows. Those are the reviews I appreciate, encouraging or critical, because they tell me that a reader was invested enough in my story to actually give it some thought. On the other hand, I loathe reviews by readers who read an episode or two, didn't like it (which if fine), and then suddenly became experts on my entire story (that they hardly glanced at) by bashing the first couple of chapters. I mean, seriously, if someone starts a story and isn't for them, then just move on. No one should attempt a review if they haven't read at least the first arc, or enough to know what the hell they're talking about. That's just a waste of both the reader and the writer's time.

I almost forgot about those! I see them often in other peoples novels, and it’s upsetting to see since they try to judge the story purely based off what they dislike. And while reviews are an open space and don’t require moderation on the site, I find it more noticeable than not that people usually leave bad reviews more so out of spite rather than actual constructive advice and a desire for the author to improve or to notify other readers of things to expect out of the novel.

 

[S-Scherr]

I believe a sound review should encourage and educate the writer in a respectful way (even constructive criticism can be written encouragingly) without going into a full-blown critique. That should be handled between the reviewer and the writer behind the scenes. A good review stays focused on the work, and shouldn't point back and elevate the reviewer's abilities to 'review'.

A good review, while addressing the writer, is also speaking to potential readers. It should give a brief 'snapshot' of the story, without spoilers, and highlight pros and cons from the reviewer, as a reader.

A review isn't the place for someone to vent their emotions, triggered by objectionable content in a 'fictional' story (let me say that one more time: FICTIONAL STORY). That isn't a review... that's a rant. And there's plenty of blogs all over the damn place for people to rant all day long, but not in a good review of someone's work.

Just my two cents.

 

[Phantomheart]

I believe a sound review should encourage and educate the writer in a respectful way (even constructive criticism can be written encouragingly) without going into a full-blown critique. That should be handled between the reviewer and the writer behind the scenes. A good review stays focused on the work, and shouldn't point back and elevate the reviewer's abilities to 'review'.

A good review, while addressing the writer, is also speaking to potential readers. It should give a brief 'snapshot' of the story, without spoilers, and highlight pros and cons from the reviewer, as a reader.

A review isn't the place for someone to vent their emotions, triggered by objectionable content in a 'fictional' story (let me say that one more time: FICTIONAL STORY). That isn't a review... that's a rant. And there's plenty of blogs all over the damn place for people to rant all day long, but not in a good review of someone's work.

Just my two cents.

Exactly, which is why I started this post in the first place, because in all honesty, the best place to get constructive criticism relating to your novels isn’t even by your own readers on your own novels page, but in the feedback forums. But that then Rios away the personal aspect of a review or critique, because you know then reader isn’t there because they like the story but because they see it as a job almost — not something of their own accord.

 

[Wintertime]

I'm always open to the discussion of reviews. It's learning to differentiate between a good, constructive review and a shitpost is a key to making a good novel. Longer review means they've at least become invested to talk a bunch about plot holes and story structure and overall want to journey along with the author.

It's always nice to get both sides of the spectrum, however. Quick reviews don't take that much effort; maybe someone just wants to get their quick thoughts on things.

 

[S-Scherr]

Exactly, which is why I started this post in the first place, because in all honesty, the best place to get constructive criticism relating to your novels isn’t even by your own readers on your own novels page, but in the feedback forums. But that then Rios away the personal aspect of a review or critique, because you know then reader isn’t there because they like the story but because they see it as a job almost — not something of their own accord.

I seldom review a work I don't enjoy on some level. I believe that's the key to including that personal aspect to reviews. For me, even a diamond-in-the-rough is motivation enough to review a work because even if a story is a mess... there's still the raw potential of that diamond that reels me in. I like to start there in a review, highlight that diamond, then ease into what I see getting in the way of a story's potential via some initial critical impressions. If a writer is responsive to those impressions and asks for specifics, then the door is open for that invited critique via the forums. That's the only way I can do it without it feeling like that job you mentioned. I've got to like something about it first before I can go any further... or what's the point as far as this disinterested reader is concerned. Know what I mean?

 

[Nihilaine]

How do you feel about reviews that are 5 stars? What about those that are under?

I checked some stories here on SH & most 5 star reviews consisted of only 1 sentences so I find it rather useless but those in depth ones, that I could appreciate.

Do you appreciate longer reviews or shorter reviews? Does it matter?

Definitely longer as long as its not outright ridiculing the story and more constructive.

Do you like reviews at all? Or do you find them unneeded or obtuse?

Hmm, I kind of apathetic to it I guess? It would be nice if I get one but I don't really care much if I don't since I find that my readers are the analytical types and would instantly point out if they found anything wrong on the comment section.

In the 1st place, do readers even check the review section? Coz I for one sure don't.

 

[Ace_Arriande]

I’ve come to notice that the review function here on ScribbleHub is not frequently used, and when it is, falls into two spectrums of thought: 5 star compliments, and 3-4 star constructive criticisms.

This is the case for the vast majority of websites and always will be unless we figure out a way to change human nature. The people who actually leave reviews on something are always going to be in the tiny minority. Even on Royal Road where I've got a total of 3,088 ratings across all my stories, only 209 of those are reviews, and probably only about 10 or so are in-depth at all. If you look at Amazon then it's more or less the same. Only one out of a hundred people leave a review on average, and most of those reviews are one-liners. It's just the good ones that get voted to the top.

How do you feel about reviews that are 5 stars? What about those that are under?

It's all subjective and nobody can be trusted to objectively review anything (not that I believe creative works can be objectively evaluated in the first place), so a 5 star review is no more nor less valid than any other rating. However, in my experience, reviews that tend to be around 3 to 4 stars are generally the most balanced and actually trying to be a review. 4+ star reviews make me feel good. 3-4 star reviews tend to be those nice few who actually try to be objective and tend to offer the most constructive feedback. Reviews under 3 stars, unless the majority of people are rating the story this poorly, aren't worth paying any attention to.

Do you appreciate longer reviews or shorter reviews? Does it matter?

It doesn't matter. A one-sentence review is just as legitimate and important as a ten-paragraph review to me. In the end, 99% of reviews, even the really long ones, come down to "I like this" vs "I don't like this." You can say that with few words or many, but the core message is the same.

Do you like reviews at all? Or do you find them unneeded or obtuse?

I like the reviews that give me praise since those make me feel better about myself and my writing. Now, I will say that I'm also a big fan of reviews that actually try to be constructive and helpful to authors... but that isn't what reviews are supposed to be for. Reviews are supposed to be for other readers first and foremost and should never be directed to the authors (imo). The kind of feedback I like to see in reviews is best left in comments or direct messages instead, but people would rather just leave it in a review.

EDIT: Oh, and whenever I get one of those long and rant-y negative reviews, I always check to see what other reviews that user has left. Any opinion from anybody who only leaves negative reviews gets immediately disregarded or used as comedy. I'm going to assume that anybody who leaves all, or even a majority, of negative reviews is somebody who just isn't happy with anything they read and I don't care about the opinions of people who focus so much on negativity. I can't stand CinemaSin's content for this reason, but I love CinemaWin's.

 

[Moonpearl]

As a writer, I love reviews.

I love five star reviews even if they only offer one line because it shows me that the reader loved my work enough to want to try and encourage others to read it, even if they couldn't write much. It helps to motivate me.
I like constructive reviews because they help me to grow as a writer. It's easy to be defensive when your work receives criticism, but if you leave it for a week or so and come back to it, genuine criticism should be easier to swallow and implement.
As for extremely low and low-quality reviews... If I can't get anything genuinely constructive out of them, I ignore them. It's usually someone with too much time on their hands.

Of course I prefer long over short reviews, as they offer much more insight, but whatever a reader is willing to provide is good for me.

As a reader, I also like reviews since they can flag up issues that the author didn't before going in. But I ignore short low-star reviews because most of the ones I've seen are ridiculous...
One of my favourite novels (on another site) received a low review because the reviewer said there was too much focus on the yuri... In a yuri novel.
And I saw someone rate my friend's novel very low, but their justification was all fabricated lies.

Which begs the question: what do you do when someone dishonestly reviews your work?

 

[Phantomheart]

I checked some stories here on SH & most 5 star reviews consisted of only 1 sentences so I find it rather useless but those in depth ones, that I could appreciate.

Definitely longer as long as its not outright ridiculing the story and more constructive.

Hmm, I kind of apathetic to it I guess? It would be nice if I get one but I don't really care much if I don't since I find that my readers are the analytical types and would instantly point out if they found anything wrong on the comment section.

In the 1st place, do readers even check the review section? Coz I for one sure don't.

I don't know about others, but reviews play a huge part in whether or not I invest in a novel when the tags seem lacking or the description isn't that great. Reviews also give a sense of insurance that the novel will be worth your time.

This is the case for the vast majority of websites and always will be unless we figure out a way to change human nature. The people who actually leave reviews on something are always going to be in the tiny minority. Even on Royal Road where I've got a total of 3,088 ratings across all my stories, only 209 of those are reviews, and probably only about 10 or so are in-depth at all. If you look at Amazon then it's more or less the same. Only one out of a hundred people leave a review on average, and most of those reviews are one-liners. It's just the good ones that get voted to the top.

It's all subjective and nobody can be trusted to objectively review anything (not that I believe creative works can be objectively evaluated in the first place), so a 5 star review is no more nor less valid than any other rating. However, in my experience, reviews that tend to be around 3 to 4 stars are generally the most balanced and actually trying to be a review. 4+ star reviews make me feel good. 3-4 star reviews tend to be those nice few who actually try to be objective and tend to offer the most constructive feedback. Reviews under 3 stars, unless the majority of people are rating the story this poorly, aren't worth paying any attention to.

It doesn't matter. A one-sentence review is just as legitimate and important as a ten-paragraph review to me. In the end, 99% of reviews, even the really long ones, come down to "I like this" vs "I don't like this." You can say that with few words or many, but the core message is the same.

I like the reviews that give me praise since those make me feel better about myself and my writing. Now, I will say that I'm also a big fan of reviews that actually try to be constructive and helpful to authors... but that isn't what reviews are supposed to be for. Reviews are supposed to be for other readers first and foremost and should never be directed to the authors (imo). The kind of feedback I like to see in reviews is best left in comments or direct messages instead, but people would rather just leave it in a review.

EDIT: Oh, and whenever I get one of those long and rant-y negative reviews, I always check to see what other reviews that user has left. Any opinion from anybody who only leaves negative reviews gets immediately disregarded or used as comedy. I'm going to assume that anybody who leaves all, or even a majority, of negative reviews is somebody who just isn't happy with anything they read and I don't care about the opinions of people who focus so much on negativity. I can't stand CinemaSin's content for this reason, but I love CinemaWin's.

I also find it that the best advice people give me are actually within the comments section, but I think I would prefer reviews since they go over the entire series or at leas the entire series to the point the reader is reviewing.

As a writer, I love reviews.

I love five star reviews even if they only offer one line because it shows me that the reader loved my work enough to want to try and encourage others to read it, even if they couldn't write much. It helps to motivate me.
I like constructive reviews because they help me to grow as a writer. It's easy to be defensive when your work receives criticism, but if you leave it for a week or so and come back to it, genuine criticism should be easier to swallow and implement.
As for extremely low and low-quality reviews... If I can't get anything genuinely constructive out of them, I ignore them. It's usually someone with too much time on their hands.

Of course I prefer long over short reviews, as they offer much more insight, but whatever a reader is willing to provide is good for me.

As a reader, I also like reviews since they can flag up issues that the author didn't before going in. But I ignore short low-star reviews because most of the ones I've seen are ridiculous...
One of my favourite novels (on another site) received a low review because the reviewer said there was too much focus on the yuri... In a yuri novel.
And I saw someone rate my friend's novel very low, but their justification was all fabricated lies.

Which begs the question: what do you do when someone dishonestly reviews your work?

I've never gotten reviews on SH yet, but when I got negative reviews I would often try to find something worthwhile in the comment, but if there in nothing good at all in the review and it is just a dishonest hate speech, then I just accept that someone is that pitiful to vent out their frustrations for some type of dopamine release because their life is that sad and they want some type of reaction from someone or want to deflect their problems onto others through pure spite. IN those instances, its just best to ignore them.

 

[Ninetailed_Furball]

As an author, those 5 star one line reviews are a nice ego stroker, but that's about all I get out of it and generally forget they even exist after 10 minutes.

The longer, more critical ones I really appreciate since I'm always looking for the spots I'm doing poorly at to fix. In fact, it's the complaints that I look most closely at. You can't get better at writing if you don't take criticism. Just being told you're good at these 5 points will barely tell you how to improve, but being told one weak point will give you the tools to make a massive improvement in quality.

While some criticism is better left in the forums and comments, I really like seeing them in anywhere. A lot of people seem to react poorly to anything bad being said, but I don't understand that at all. Criticism is the single fastest and most effective way to improve your skills, as it directly tells you where you can make things better. Being told you're doing things well might as well be the same as not being told anything aside from being vaporous ego stroking.

That said, if someone just slams your story without anything legitimate to say, I just report them. If the site's admins are anywhere decent, they'll remove it in an instant.

As a reader, I find short reviews, positive or negative, to be pretty worthless and no better than star ratings. I want to know what the story does well and poorly so I can make a sound judgment on deciding if it's worth spending the time to read or not. Reading 10 reviews is going to take less time than the first chapter, and I'll have a good feel of dozens of chapters in that time. That's why I even look at reviews in the first place.

Ratings help me decide to go past the thumbnail and tags or not, and reviews help me decide to check out the first chapter. One-sided reviews (positive or negative) won't give me any useful information as a reader.

 

[jinxs2011]

I much rather constructive reviews, even if negative. So long as they actually have a valid point, they're great. Partially due to the more... Unusual nature of my more popular novel, I think, most of my reviews seem to be 5 star reviews that don't say much at all. They're nice, but they don't actually help me improve.

It's rare to get someone who actually spends the time to make suggestions and point out flaws (in reviews or comments), which on one hand as someone who rarely does it myself I can understand, but on the other it really can help a lot.

Still, I've been lucky enough that I rarely get people (only one or two total) that have nonsensically bashed on my story, so you win some, you lose some, I guess.

 

[Phantomheart]

As an author, those 5 star one line reviews are a nice ego stroker, but that's about all I get out of it and generally forget they even exist after 10 minutes.

The longer, more critical ones I really appreciate since I'm always looking for the spots I'm doing poorly at to fix. In fact, it's the complaints that I look most closely at. You can't get better at writing if you don't take criticism. Just being told you're good at these 5 points will barely tell you how to improve, but being told one weak point will give you the tools to make a massive improvement in quality.

While some criticism is better left in the forums and comments, I really like seeing them in anywhere. A lot of people seem to react poorly to anything bad being said, but I don't understand that at all. Criticism is the single fastest and most effective way to improve your skills, as it directly tells you where you can make things better. Being told you're doing things well might as well be the same as not being told anything aside from being vaporous ego stroking.

That said, if someone just slams your story without anything legitimate to say, I just report them. If the site's admins are anywhere decent, they'll remove it in an instant.

As a reader, I find short reviews, positive or negative, to be pretty worthless and no better than star ratings. I want to know what the story does well and poorly so I can make a sound judgment on deciding if it's worth spending the time to read or not. Reading 10 reviews is going to take less time than the first chapter, and I'll have a good feel of dozens of chapters in that time. That's why I even look at reviews in the first place.

Ratings help me decide to go past the thumbnail and tags or not, and reviews help me decide to check out the first chapter. One-sided reviews (positive or negative) won't give me any useful information as a reader.

I much rather constructive reviews, even if negative. So long as they actually have a valid point, they're great. Partially due to the more... Unusual nature of my more popular novel, I think, most of my reviews seem to be 5 star reviews that don't say much at all. They're nice, but they don't actually help me improve.

It's rare to get someone who actually spends the time to make suggestions and point out flaws (in reviews or comments), which on one hand as someone who rarely does it myself I can understand, but on the other it really can help a lot.

Still, I've been lucky enough that I rarely get people (only one or two total) that have nonsensically bashed on my story, so you win some, you lose some, I guess.

I love to leave reviews on novels I read, and even more so on people who actually want to hear feedback, but I find that most people on SH have this reluctance with both writing reviews and receiving reviews. Especially since some people who don't like reviews that point out the downsides of novels can edge people who do like leaving constructive reviews to stop. I recently came across this when one of my favorite authors at the time posted a passive aggressive response regarding their characters and the review left on them.

And while understandable, as novels are sometimes like our children, it's frustrating to see that your genuine attempt of help is completely rejected, which I find is another reason why people are reluctant to post reviews -- author backlash.

 

[chocolily]

I love to leave reviews on novels I read, and even more so on people who actually want to hear feedback, but I find that most people on SH have this reluctance with both writing reviews and receiving reviews. Especially since some people who don't like reviews that point out the downsides of novels can edge people who do like leaving constructive reviews to stop. I recently came across this when one of my favorite authors at the time posted a passive aggressive response regarding their characters and the review left on them.

And while understandable, as novels are sometimes like our children, it's frustrating to see that your genuine attempt of help is completely rejected, which I find is another reason why people are reluctant to post reviews -- author backlash.

Erm, maybe Im self entitled, but I feel that its directed to me since you did leave a constructive review on my story. And I did explain my character's naive and boderline idiocy in a chapter and hope that my readers would understand a little about her. So I think it's better to explain if I'm one of the cause for this.

Im truly happy that you would spend time to leave a review for my story and I did click 'like' on it and added the 'dense protagonist' tag as you had pointed out. I admit that a few sentence of yours are pretty hurtful and my mind might have translate your words to be scolding my MC to be an idiot with physical adult age that's already exposed to working environment. It's also because I am putting myself on her shoes when I'm writing my MC and got a serious case of self doubt of my own mental age.

But my intention on explaining my character is not to attack you, but to explain a bit about my MC's idiocy.

I apologize if my actions had hurt you. I have no intention to do so.

 

[binarysoap]

On more of a reader's standpoint of reviews, I usually read them if the synopsis of the story doesn't tell me much about what the story is actually about (and most synopses are like that). Because of this, I actually like it when the reviews are somewhat spoiler-y, since it tells me what I can expect from the story. Reviews that compare the story to another one (e.g. X is like a mix of story Y and movie Z, except that the main character is a female and into yuri) are also very helpful for the same reason (and can be accomplished in a sentence or two). These kind of reviews admittedly don't help the writer much though.

As for reading a review that is basically constructive criticism, I usually skip those. It's targeted to the author, and while I might gain some insight of what the story does well/poorly, it usually just ends up being irrelevant and makes me feel the story has a lot of problems, even though most of the time the story overall is well-written. Not to mention that writers probably read those and try to fix what's wrong, so it really does become irrelevant.

 

[Phantomheart]

Erm, maybe Im self entitled, but I feel that its directed to me since you did leave a constructive review on my story. And I did explain my character's naive and boderline idiocy in a chapter and hope that my readers would understand a little about her. So I think it's better to explain if I'm one of the cause for this.

Im truly happy that you would spend time to leave a review for my story and I did click 'like' on it and added the 'dense protagonist' tag as you had pointed out. I admit that a few sentence of yours are pretty hurtful and my mind might have translate your words to be scolding my MC to be an idiot with physical adult age that's already exposed to working environment. It's also because I am putting myself on her shoes when I'm writing my MC and got a serious case of self doubt of my own mental age.

But my intention on explaining my character is not to attack you, but to explain a bit about my MC's idiocy.

I apologize if my actions had hurt you. I have no intention to do so.

Ah, Hey Chocolily, no hard feelings. It happens, and we all view our novels with a sense of pride, and my words might have come across as crass or cutting, which I didn't intend to do, as all was in a jesting manner, but things can always be misinterpreted as there's a lacking sense of propriety on the internet. I apologize that some things came across as rude or harmful, I genuinely didn't mean to hurt your feelings or make you feel so doubtful of yourself since you are an incredibly creative author. I felt quite dejected once I saw your A/N on the chapter after my review, but I figured that it was just a general explanation as many other readers had mentioned upon the subject before.

Though, your comment did get me thinking about reviews in general, which led to this thread and how we all feel about reviews, since SH seems sparse of many reviewers, and there's a sense of awkwardness when relating to the topic.

 

[Phantomheart]

On more of a reader's standpoint of reviews, I usually read them if the synopsis of the story doesn't tell me much about what the story is actually about (and most synopses are like that). Because of this, I actually like it when the reviews are somewhat spoiler-y, since it tells me what I can expect from the story. Reviews that compare the story to another one (e.g. X is like a mix of story Y and movie Z, except that the main character is a female and into yuri) are also very helpful for the same reason (and can be accomplished in a sentence or two). These kind of reviews admittedly don't help the writer much though.

As for reading a review that is basically constructive criticism, I usually skip those. It's targeted to the author, and while I might gain some insight of what the story does well/poorly, it usually just ends up being irrelevant and makes me feel the story has a lot of problems, even though most of the time the story overall is well-written. Not to mention that writers probably read those and try to fix what's wrong, so it really does become irrelevant.

I definitely agree with this; I often read reviews to find out whether the story is worth my time, as synopsis's often have a habit of being maybe 100 words on average, and sometimes don't even mention the main character at all, relying instead on reader intrigue to hook the reader into reading the novel. Reviews that compare series are definitely the most helpful, because until SH implements a user based recommendation system, reviews are the best way to go.

 

[Rainli]

How do you feel about reviews that are 5 stars? What about those that are under?
Perfection is overrated. That said, 5-star ratings are huge ego boosts for writers. It's a huge compliment really from readers who think you should keep writing and perfecting the story that they've invested time and energy in.

Generally, 3-4 stars are geared from other writers(mostly) and readers who are invested in the story but see flaws that bother them.

Any lower than that(1-2 stars) - Depending on the type of story you're writing can be delegated to haters/trolls, who want to bring down a story's ranking on the site. That, or there are fundamental issues within the story, and the reader feels betrayed for investing time somehow. ex: Big flaws such as grammar/spelling, characterization, plot direction, etc.

Do you appreciate longer reviews or shorter reviews? Does it matter?
I appreciate all reviews because someone took the time to write that. (Unless it's a troll review.)

Do you like reviews at all? Or do you find them unneeded or obtuse?
Reviews, in general, function to grab attention to your story. So I think they're plenty needed.

Reviews are helpful when the story is deemed completed imo like the ones you see on goodreads and by booktubers because they're judging essentially the final version of the story.

Reviews seen on ongoing webnovels is almost like a promotion to get other readers on board. Like this reader thought this story was super cool, great characters, action, etc. So they are there to help convince other people to check this story out.

Reviews functioning as feedback, however, are a different story because the purpose is different. Feedback is to tell the writer what changes should be made accordingly to improve overall quality. I would prefer feedback to be given as a comment/DM rather than a review, but I'll take what I can get. lol. Besides, receiving feedback, even if in a positive sense, can hurt writers who are putting themselves out there and are new to critiques, especially if they get harsh ones. But alas, that is the real world. Because authors cannot interact with 'everyone' who picks up their story and explain what they're missing out on.

Just my two cents.
I think you should keep doing what you're doing, and not feel judged by what you think is right and helpful. However, from another writer to another writer, my advice would be to open up a dialogue with an author first by leaving comments or message, then post a review, otherwise, it might feel out of place.

 

[chocolily]

Ah, Hey Chocolily, no hard feelings. It happens, and we all view our novels with a sense of pride, and my words might have come across as crass or cutting, which I didn't intend to do, as all was in a jesting manner, but things can always be misinterpreted as there's a lacking sense of propriety on the internet. I apologize that some things came across as rude or harmful, I genuinely didn't mean to hurt your feelings or make you feel so doubtful of yourself since you are an incredibly creative author. I felt quite dejected once I saw your A/N on the chapter after my review, but I figured that it was just a general explanation as many other readers had mentioned upon the subject before.

Though, your comment did get me thinking about reviews in general, which led to this thread and how we all feel about reviews, since SH seems sparse of many reviewers, and there's a sense of awkwardness when relating to the topic.

Yup, my A/N is for general as there are quite some readers that pointed out about her childishness. No worries, I'm just mentally weak at that time when I read your lovely review (i just love long review) and took your wording in a negative light. Im alright now!

As a reader myself, I tend to scroll down the page to check the reviews before giving the story a shot.

Review system could be good and bad, and like those above had said, depends on the users that wrote the review. But hey, reviews have plenty of spoilers, and its exactly that I want to know before I decide to read it. But there are also times where the summary of the book itself is good enough to stop me from reading the review to avoid ruining my interest in case there are readers that dislike the story.

Our perception is different and I always regret for not giving a good book a chance after reading a review that listed out the main character's bad points in an exagerrated manner. But there are also good reviews that accurately pin point the character's personality, which is helpful.

As for myself, I never wrote a review before mostly because I'm awkward with words like praise or constructive review without risking offending anyone.